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City of PhoenixTres Rios Wetlands:
Water Sustainability & Efficiency
Cynthia Campbell
Water Resource Management Advisor
City of Phoenix
Phoenix is a Desert City
Phoenix Water Supplies
• 3% Groundwater
50% Salt/Verde Rivers
47% Colorado River
Phoenix receives most of
its surface water from the
Salt and Verde Rivers
through the Salt River
Project.
Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River Photo credit: srp.net
50% Salt/Verde Rivers
The Central Arizona
Project (CAP) delivers
Colorado River water
to several Phoenix
metropolitan area water
treatment plants.
Photo credit: Central Arizona Project
47% Colorado River
Phoenix has a service area of 540 square miles and serves 1.5
million water customers and 2.5 million wastewater customers
(including customers in other cities).
Each Year:
• Five water treatment plants
produce 300,000 acre-feet
of potable water
• Three wastewater treatment
plants treat 190,000 acre-
feet of wastewater
Phoenix reuses 99% of its
reclaimed water
Reclaimed Water
Reclaimed Water Uses
•Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station
•Tres Rios Constructed Wetland
•Roosevelt Irrigation District
•Buckeye Irrigation District
Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station
Phoenix delivers over
65 MGD (million gallons
per day) of reclaimed
water, providing cooling
water for the PVNG station
facility.
Tres Rios Constructed Wetland
Constructed in 2009 with
the assistance of the U.S.
Army Corps of
Engineers, Tres Rios is a
700-acre wetland that
acts as final treatment
from the 91st Avenue
Wastewater Treatment
Plant.
Built along the banks of the Salt River,
Tres Rios is one of the largest
constructed wetlands in the U.S.
Tres Rios
3 Purposes:
Tertiary treatment
Flood control
Habitat restoration
From the treatment plant, 60-70 MGD of reclaimed water flows through two deep
water basins, three flow regulating cells and the overbank wetland, extending 2-3 miles
downstream.
• Over 150 species of birds (including a large
flock of pelicans), muskrats, beaver, raccoons,
coyotes, bobcats and skunks
Former agricultural fields were graded and contoured into wetlands.
Rushes, sedges, arrowhead, cattail, and floating aquatics were installed
to recreate wetlands of the southwestern United States.
By mostly eliminating non-native plant species like tamarisk (salt cedar)
and bringing back cottonwood and willow, Tres Rios resembles the
wetland habitats that existed along the Salt and Gila Rivers in the 1800s.
The Overbank portion of
the wetland is open to the
public from sunrise to
sunset, 365 days a year.
Accessing the wetland
requires a permit from the
City of Phoenix, which is
good for 3 months with
unlimited visits.
For more information, visit
www.tresrios.net
• Phoenix established a Colorado River
Resiliency Fund that is used for watershed
protection, recharge, storage and other
activities (i.e. system conservation in Colorado
River).
• 2017 Agreement in Principle (Phoenix,
Arizona Department of Water Resources, Gila
River Indian Community and Walton Family
Foundation)
New Ideas for Sustainability
FOREST THINNING & PRESCRIBED BURNING
STREAM & WETLAND RESTORATION HABITAT IMPROVEMENT & REVEGETATION PROJECTS
INVASIVE SPECIES MANAGEMENT SEDIMENT & EROSION MANAGEMENT
Source Water Protection
Gila River Habitat Restoration
• In a unique arrangement with the Gila River Indian Community, Phoenix is storing a portion of its Colorado River allocation at the Community’s Olberg Dam Underground Storage Project.
• Later, Phoenix can exchange the credits it earns from recharge with the Community’s Colorado River allocation.
Olberg Dam Underground Storage Facility
By reintroducing recharged water near
the banks of the Gila River, the
Community can begin to realize its vision of returning a riparian
habitat back to a portion of the River.
Take Action Today
bit.ly/azWRANaction
Keep Up on the Latest News
az.audubon.org/water-news-0
For More Information
Sarah Luna, AZ WRAN
Coordinator
Register for Future Webinars
http://bit.ly/azWRANevents
Watch Past Webinars
http://bit.ly/AudubonAZYouTube
Join the Network
http://bit.ly/JoinWRAN
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www.facebook.com/WesternRiversAZ
